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Three things accompany and fascinate me throughout my life: history, the fine arts and the fascination of aeroplanes and ships. In the many aspects of model making, these fascinations come together quite happily.

In this respect, I take the freedom to build anything and in any scale that occupies me. In practice, these are mainly aircraft in 1:48 and 1:32 scale, but lately the 1:72 and even the 1:144 scale have developed a great fascination for me.

As a child of the 1970s, I am aware of the scale in which the offers, possibilities and demands in plastic modelling have developed: we are living in truly great times... aren't we?

A giant spreads its wings: B-24 GR.Mk.VI, 10th Squadron RCAF

A quote from Paul Kennedy's book "Engineers of Victory" should open this article: "Closing the air gap did not happen because some great person decreed it. There was a group of chiefly Canadian air engineers who in early [...]

Saab SK 60 times three! Part III: Saab SK60B /60083 of the 3rd Squadron "Urban Gul" of F21 Wing and my experience with Pilot Replica's long awaited kit!

The Saab SK60/Saab 105 occupies a prominent position in the history of aviation. Its very origin as a project for a civilian four-seater business jet gives it a special status. What is particularly interesting, however, is that it was [...]

Saab SK 60 times three! Part II: a formation of four Saab SK60s called "the Vikings" and the Swedish neutrality.

The history of the Swedish Air Force is a reflection of the neutral political stance that the great Nordic country developed in the fateful years of the 20th century. In 1905, two years after the first motorised flight had been achieved, [...]

Saab SK 60 times three! The first: SK 60A / 60072 from the Air Force F5 flying school Ljungbyhed and a brief outline of the type's operational history.

Some time ago I had the wonderful opportunity to build three of the newly launched Saab SK 60s from the Swedish manufacturer Pilot-Replicas in parallel. As each individual model in this series has its own special features that are worth [...]

The world is upside down! An attempt to capture aerobatics in a model: Zlin Z-526AFS in its proper element

About the idea of an aerobatics presentation Sometimes it is worth looking at the well-known or seemingly self-evident from an unusual perspective. We are all familiar with the term "aerobatics" and everyone will probably [...]

An Easterner in the West: Zlin Z-526AFS "Akrobat", Sassuolo Aero Club

It is not surprising that the Czech manufacturer Eduard has taken on the Zlin Z-526 with particular love and expertise: Constructions by the Czech aircraft company Zlin (originally: Zlínska letecká akciová společnost) have long played [...]

A bit like Star Wars Death Star, deadly anyway: Sperry "ball" turret of a B-24 Liberator

A quick and topical article this time! Sometimes "the oats get you", as they say. This was the case for me recently when I was in the middle of building the large Hobby Boss B-24 Liberator in 1/32nd scale and was about to [...]

The "Southern Cross" over the South Pacific: Kingsford-Smith's Fokker F.VII can tell a truly exciting story!

The Fokker F.VII "Trimotor" was undoubtedly one of the great designs in the history of aviation. Its design reflected the optimistic spirit of the up-and-coming aviation of the early 1920s, just as the success story or stories of [...]

Not my last completed model of 2023, but the last one I wrote a few words about: Yak 50 aerobatic plane in the colours of DOSAAF!

The powerful and agile Yak 50 can be considered one of the great designs in the field of aerobatics: since its appearance in 1973, it has repeatedly written success stories at competitions and was the declared favourite aircraft of [...]

Nothing is impossible: the Bartini-Beriev WWA-14

When looking at some of the flying machines, the question immediately arises as to how anyone could believe that something like this would ever take off! In fact, the original of the WWA-14 M1 shown here has flown - and not at all badly, [...]